poetry: "estuary"

Shroud 16 is live on Amazon. The Spring Issue features "Estuary," my poem about a death which has haunted me for
almost eighteen years. Tim Deal of Shroud Publishing will
later compile the work from it into a print omnibus edition.

Here's an excerpt from a great review up already for the issue. If you enjoy reading on your Kindle, consider taking a look at this stellar mag.“Another absolutely awesome offering from the folks at Shroud! You just won't find such a diverse, eclectic, though-provoking, cerebral, guttural—and, yeah, grizzly, unnerving and downright terrifying collection of work anywhere else...The art, reviews, fiction and nonfiction blend seamlessly into a nightmarish and truly memorable experience. Shroud consistently gathers only the very best of established and new writers and artists, with a keen eye towards work that will stick with you, keep you awake at night...keep you glancing in the dark corners...”

Check it out for $2.99. It's worth it.

review: "mourning is the new black: stephanie wytovich's mourning jewelry"

I'm super excited for this Issue of Shroud Magazine to be released. You can read my review of Mourning Jewelry, Stephanie Wytovich's second poetry collection, which is on the Preliminary Ballot of the Bram Stoker Awards for Superior Achievement in a Poetry Collection. The Issue also features one of my favorite poems from Mourning Jewelry, "Vines are in Her Wardrobe."The cover art is courtesy of GAK, who you can read an interview with inside, as well. Thanks to Shroud editor Tim Deal for yet another amazing issue of one of the best speculative fiction, fantasy, and dark fiction magazines on the market today.

poetry: "allhallowtide (to the faithless departed)"

RIDICULOUSLY excited to grace the pages of this stellar mag! And for such a special issue, no less. I was invited to submit a piece for the Halloween issue and came up with "Allhallowtide (To the Faithless Departed)", an experimental poem Ken Wood was kind enough to toil over formatting for print.

Here is the full Table of Contents, which can also be found on the Shock Totem website here.

﻿﻿﻿* Halloween On, by John Boden and Bracken MacLeod* Night in the Forest of Loneliness, by David G. Blake* Kore, by John Langan (Holiday Recollection)* Out of Field Theory, by Kevin Lucia* Tricks and Treats, by Rose Blackthorn* Witches and the March of Dimes, and Mike Warnke, by Babs Boden (Holiday Recollection)* Howdy Doody Time, by Kriscinda Lee Everitt* When I Scared Myself Out of Halloween, by Jeremy Wagner (Holiday Recollection)* Untitled, by Barry Lee Dejasu* The Mansion, by Lee Thomas (Holiday Recollection)* Allhallowtide (To the Faithless Departed), by Sydney Leigh (Poetry)* Flay Bells Ring, or How the Horror Filmmaker Stole Christmas, by Mike Lombardo (Holiday Recollection)* The Candle Eaters, by K. Allen Wood* Howling Through the Keyhole (Author Notes)﻿﻿﻿﻿

"transference""lust for life""corpus delectable"

In Episode 503, which aired Friday, September 19th, Host Nelson Pyles reads my drabble "Transference", my flash fiction "Corpus Delectable", and my short fiction, "Lust for Life"--which, by the way, is definitely not a chapter from WHAT TO EXPECT WHEN YOU'RE EXPECTING. Art by the Stark Raving Maddeningly Beautiful Von Holliday! (It's called poetic license, people!)

Villipede Publications’ first horror and dark speculative fiction anthology will tenderly caress your amygdalae and viciously twist your imagination. With fifteen short stories and four poems from both established and upcoming authors, this haunting collection will force readers to reevaluate their thoughts on what darkness really is: something we’re all born of yet perpetually trying to flee; a malevolent force that desires our servitude or destruction–or something that simply wishes to lock us in its cold, scaly, fathomless grip. Or perhaps, even, it’s an asylum for our jittery minds and confused hearts–a place of solace where humans may patiently inspect their primal natures and desires…a place where the barriers between monster and man begin to shift and break down. The authors’ origins span the breadth of the globe: the UK, Greece, Australia, Sweden, the US–and their stories are just as diverse. While the styles and subject matter of the stories may differ greatly, what is consistent is the dedication each author has harnessed to create unique fiction and scenarios of bewitching caliber. Holding Darkness Ad Infinitum in your trembling hands, you may find yourself faced with a simple ultimatum: Do you turn around and embrace the darkness of your own free will…or will it embrace you first?

Available in beautiful trade paperback and on Kindle . . .Buy it here.

See the teaser images for each piece in the anthology on Villipede's Facebook page here.

Cover Art by Wednesday Wolf

"And the Gunman's Hand Held a Pen: A Review of Bracken MacLeod's Mountain Home"